Falafel with roasted pumpkin, spinach, feta and pine nuts( SERVES 4 )

This is a classic falafel recipe, but with ingredients and spices that I have researched, tested and tweaked over the course of a few months. This is a healthy, vegetarian dinner meal that has big flavours, can be made for under $20 and is filling enough to satisfy even the non-vegetarian in the family. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Pulse all ingredients until a rough mixture forms. Scrape the sides off, stir the mixture and keep processing but do not overblend the mixture (don't want a hummus-like consistency).

Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap and let it set in the fridge for an hour.

In the meantime, prep your pumpkin by chopping them into 1 inch pieces and drizzle with olive oil. Place them in the oven at 180 degrees for 15minutes on one side then flip over for another 15minutes.

Heat up the oil in the pan (fill it to the level for shallow frying). The oil should only be hot enough for one side of the falafel to brown in about 2-3 minutes. Otherwise it will be burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside. Test by dropping a tsp of falafel in.

Scoop falafels into roughly 2 tbsp, shape them into small round patties and drop them in the oil. Brown each side for roughly 3 minutes. Take them out when they’re dark brown and crispy on the outside.

Let your falafels drain on paper towels and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top of them.

Serve your falafels on a bed of spinach, followed by the roasted pumpkins, and finish off with sprinkling of pine nuts, feta cheese (cut into cubes), pomegranate molasses (you can substitute with balsamic vinegar) and hummus on the side.

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